#336 - WHY HIRE TWO ARCHITECTS FOR ONE PROJECT - Design Architect and Architect of Record
SUMMARY
This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design discuss the scenarios when two architects are needed for one project: The Design Architect and the Architect of Record. They cover the differences between the two architects, what projects require both, the pros and cons of having two architects, best practices and workflow when there are two architects, why having two architects is becoming more common, and more. Enjoy!
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Difference between a Design Architect and an Architect of Record (aka Executive Architect).
“Typically on a project, there’s only one architect and that architect wears two hats: They are responsible for the design of the building and they are also responsible for the more ‘technical’ aspects of the project which would include the construction documents, permitting, and construction administration. When there are two architects on one project, the Design architect is the one who is in charge of and leads all of the design decisions […] and the Architect of Record is responsible for all the other things I mentioned. The reason why they are called the Architect of Record is they are the one who stamps the drawings with their license stamp and those drawings are submitted to the building department, so they are literally the architect of record.” (00:29)
(02:42) Reasons for needing two architects instead of one.
(02:42) The architect is not local to the project.
(09:35) The architect lacks the technical skills or knowledge of the building type.
(12:20) The architect only does design.
(15:16) The architect mostly performs as an architect of record.
(17:35) Workflow between a Design Architect and Architect of Record. The value of having both architects throughout the project.
“Some people think that a Design Architect can produce a design package, like a schematic design drawing set, and then just hand it over to the Executive Architect who will flesh it out and put in the details and you're good to go [without keeping the Design Architect on the project]. However, for large buildings, complex buildings, or just really nice ones like a custom home at the smaller scale, that [handoff] doesn’t work. That does not work. You need your Design Architect to stay on through the entire process because even with construction documents, which are very technical things, there are design decisions in nearly every aspect of them. In my experience when we were operating as the Design Architect, the local architect (the Architect of Record), would produce the Construction Documents and send them to us and we would redline them and say, “You have to change this detail. This is not what we intended.” And it's not to say that the local architect is messing up, it's just that when you advance something from a schematic level to a highly detailed level, there's interpretation involved.” (20:00)
(24:52) Advantages and disadvantages of having both architects.
“The advantage is that you get the best of both worlds. You get the best design from the architect that you want and you get the best technical knowledge, expertise, and experience from the AOR. With both, you get the exciting part of the creative, artistic aspect of hiring a designer, which is also the risky part. At the same time, you get the other side of the pill, which is assurance because you have an AOR office that's been doing this for 30 years and they only do this type of project so even though you get the fun part, you’re also covered… there's a safety net underneath you.” (25:00)
(27:41) Pairing the right Design Architect and Architect of Record together. Why some architects will not only be one or the other?
(32:57) Using a Designer instead of a Design Architect.
